University of Missouri Columns

Centuries before the modern seismograph, Armenian monks measured quakes with this tilting pillar.

The scorched Lisbon church that survived two earthquakes and a massive fire.

A church now sits over the site of one of the worst urban disasters of early 19th-century America.

Dedicated to the Father of the British Fire Service.

This library dates back to the late 17th century and was one of the first public lending libraries in England.

This column celebrates Rome's victory over the Goths, and may be the oldest Roman monument in Istanbul.

This unassuming shed was the stage for a monumental event in British history.

The first firefighters museum in southern Spain is ironically located in an old textile mill that burned down in 1985.